Wednesday, May 29, 2013

re·view : Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

re·view

So. let me tell you this : the first half of the book is just plain boring.

However, is necessary boredom..

You see, for them to get to the interesting stuff, the characters need to get there, it would be just weird if they got to that conclusion out of nowhere.

So yeah, is boring, but once you get to about half of the book, shit got REAL!

Also, the writing is as beautiful as ever, argh, wanted to put post its in every page. So so beautiful.

The plot was amazing, I love how Taylor managed to woven all those story lines together. And wholly mother of twists, did not see that ending coming!

Love aspect : ok, so this one is the one dividing point I saw going around. And no, there is no lovey dovey with Karou in this one, but Zuz and Mik were the cutest thing ever and I love the whole tasks he is doing.

“So," he called to her back, "Just out of curiosity, you know, purely conversation and all, at what age will you be entertaining offers of marriage?"

"You think it'll be so easy?" she called back over her shoulder. "No way. There will be tasks. Like in a fairy tale."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Very, so think twice."

"No need," he said. "You're worth it.”

Yeap.

There is also a whole new creepy level on this one, since is definitely not in human world and some of the images were plain bizarre. Also, was that a rape scene?

Anyhoo, I think is enriches the story though, it is very high fantasy and with a little imagination turns those images very real.

As I said, the pacing suffered in the first half, but it was necessary. Once you pass that, it picks up a whole lot.

I love what the author did with the characters, I love every single one of them, even the ones I hate. I didn't know I could be this disgusted at a fictional character, but it happened.

Also, I love Akiva, I didn't love him before, but.. oh.. *sigh*

With all of the creepy and dark things, which cover most of the book, we still get glimpses of light..

“As long as you're alive, there's always a chance things will get better."

"Or worse," said Liraz.

"Yes," he conceded. "Usually worse."

Hazael cut in. "My sister, Sunshine, and my brother, Light. You two should rally the ranks. You'll have us killing ourselves by morning.”